The present invention relates generally to the shaping and curing of vehicle tires.
More particularly, the invention relates to tire supports or stands for holding uncured tire bands or green tire carcasses preparatory to loading into shaping and curing presses.
More specifically, this invention relates to a tire support stand, adjustable over a wide range of tire sizes, which fully circumferentially supports the sidewall and bead regions of partially toroidally shaped uncured tires such as radial tires.
In the manufacture of vehicle tires, both passenger and truck, the modern practice in the art of building and shaping and curing certain tires such as radial tires and certain off-the-road equipment and earthmover tires has been to form or partially shape the usually cylindrical or barrel shape uncured tire band or green tire carcass into a generally toroidal form prior to loading into an automatic shaping and curing press having separable mold sections, or insertion into separable molds for curing in a potheater or autoclave.
Since the tire curing cycle is relatively long in relation to the building cycle, and since the curing stage of the manufacturing process is capital-intensive in terms of the press and mold investment, provision must ordinally be made for green tire storage. Moreover, in recent years the industry, in order to increase productivity and reduce direct labor costs, has adopted automated or semiautomatic tire loading for the presses, whereby green tires are positioned on support stands in front of the presses while the same are closed shaping and curing other green tires.
Then, when the green tires inside the presses are shaped and cured, the presses automatically open and discharge the cured tires and automatically pick up the uncured tires on the stands in front and load them into the presses for shaping and curing.
One such version of semiautomatic loading and unloading apparatus is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,065,499 to Brundage, et al.
However, the storage and loading of the partially toroidally shaped green tires prior to curing have presented serious problems, particularly in the curing or press rooms with high ambient temperatures, in that the soft green tire carcasses tend to deform in the sidewall and bead areas.
Thus, difficulties and malfunctions are encountered in the automatic loading step; and adverse effects upon tire quality, performance and safety are experienced.